A. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the production of tetrabromobutadiene from butane.
B. The Prior Art
Tetrabromobutadiene, which has long been known as one of many organic intermediates (having functionality useful in the production of compounds based on one of the most common of the plentiful n-paraffinic compounds) has achieved more recent notability as a monomeric vehicle for incorporating bromine compounds into polymers for fire retardant purposes.
Heretofore, 1,1,4,4-tetrabromobutadiene was prepared in a complex 2-step process involving intermediate purification and resulting in low selectivities and poor yields.
Oxychlorination has been employed for introducing functionality into olefinic hydrocarbons, but attempts to similarly activate paraffins have been much less successful due to the lack of selectivity obtained at reasonable conversion rates. Were it possible to oxyhalogenate n-butane with reasonably acceptable yields and rates of selectivity of the butadiene tetrahalide, such a process would be a significant advance in the art and is an object of this invention.